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Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture (NSA) Training of Trainers (ToT) for

Agriculture Extension Workers and Agriculture Development Agents

Participant NSA Reference Book

Agriculture Growth Programme II (AGPII)

Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Ministry of Livestock & Fisheries

February 2017

NUTRITION SENSITIVE AGRICULTURE TRAINING PARTICIPANT BOOK

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Participant NSA Reference Book was developed by the Capacity Development Support Facility (CDSF) with financial support from the Canadian Government through the Global Affairs Canada (GAC). The CDSF Team would like to thank the following contributors to the concepts and tools used to develop this participant reference book, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANR) and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MOLF), FAO, the USAID SPRING Technical Assistance Project, the Save the Children ENGINE Project and the Sustainable Undernutrition Reduction in Ethiopia (SURE) project. References are included throughout the book.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACCRONYMNS ............................................................................................................. 4

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 5

TRAINING SCHEDULE .................................................................................................... 7

SESSION 2 REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 9

SESSION 3 REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 16







SESSION 10 REFERENCES ............................................................................................ 64



ANNEX 1: NSA ON-LINE RESOURCES .......................................................................... 84

ANNEX 2: SHORT NSA ON-LINE COURSES ................................................................... 85


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ACCRONYMNS AEW Agriculture Extension Workers AGP Agriculture Growth Program CIG Community Interest Group DA’s Development Agents FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FCU Federal Coordination Unit FP Focal Persons FTC Farmer Training Center GDP Gross Domestic Product GTP Growth and Transformation Plan HH Household M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MoANR Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources MoLF Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries NNP National Nutrition Program NSA Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture OFSP Orange Flesh Sweet Potato PCU Program Coordination Unit PSNP Productive Safety Nets Program RCU Regional Coordination Unit ToT Trainer of Trainers


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INTRODUCTION

Purpose Welcome! This Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Participant Book is designed as a reference tool to accompany the training on Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture for federal and regional AGP2 PCU and MoANR/MoLF Implementing Agency “Trainers of Trainers” (ToTs). The training will share knowledge and skills for you to incorporate nutrition into your day-to-day work. The training is also meant to provide the foundation for agriculture, gender and nutrition experts from different backgrounds to be able to work across sectors more effectively, and to identify new ways to incorporate nutrition into agriculture. You will see that in some cases this book contains excerpts from longer reference materials, such as the MoANR/MoLF NSA Strategy. These full documents will be provided in full version in soft copy as well. The ToT and Participant NSA Reference Book also equips ToTs with interactive, participatory methods and tools for their work with woreda staff, DAs and farmers. When trained Federal, Regional, Woreda and DA facilitators successfully cascade this training down to the farm level, both female and male farmers will be empowered to produce and access more diverse and nutritious foods for their families throughout the calendar year.

Content outline The training includes 12 sessions:

Session 1: Introduction, Ice Breaker and ToT Objectives

Session 2: Major Nutrition Concerns and their Consequences on Social and Economic Development

Session 3: What is Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture?

Session 4: Implementing the NNP2 and the MoANR/MoLF NSA Strategy

Session 5: NSA Technologies & Best Practices

Session 6: Nutrition and the AGP2

Session 7: Nutrition Education for Farmers

Session 8: Study Tour Activity

Session 9: Gender dimension of Nutrition

Session 10: Adult learning, Effective Facilitation and Negotiation Skills

Session 11: NSA M&E

Session 12: NSA Accountability Matrix & Action Planning


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Learning Objectives Upon completion of this NSA ToT course, participants will be able to:

• Describe the major nutrition problems globally and in Ethiopia and their consequences on human, social and economic development

• Understand what is meant by “nutrition-sensitive agriculture” • Understand the strategic objectives of the NNS2 and the MoANR/MoLF NSA

Strategy and apply their recommendations • Identify opportunities within the 5 AGP2 program components to implement the

guidance of the NNS2 and the NSA Strategy • Understand the pathways linking agriculture and nutrition, including the critical

importance of women’s empowerment • Design and execute effective training on NSA for woreda staff and DAs using

interactive, adult-learning techniques • Design evidence based NSA approaches including behavior change

communication approaches that build on evidence and best practices • Design and use M&E tools to measure how trained staff are promoting the

recommended NSA interventions and technologies with farmers


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TRAINING SCHEDULE Day 1 - Monday February 27, 2017

Time Activities

8:30 – 9:00 Registration

9:00 – 9:10 Welcoming address – Mr. Jim Hamilton, CDSF Project Field Manager

9:10 – 9:20 Opening of the ToT - Ato. Keberu Belayneh, AGP PCU Coordinator

9:20 – 10:10 Session 1: Introduction and ToT Objectives

10: 10 –10:30 Session 2 (Part 1): Nutrition Concerns Globally

10:30 – 10:45 Coffee Break

10:45 – 11:35 Session 2: (Part 2) Nutrition Causes & Consequences

11:35 – 1:15 Session 3: What is NSA?

1:15 – 2:15 Lunch

2:15 – 2:35 Session 4: NNP II & MoANR’s NSA Strategy

2:35 – 3:35 Session 5: (Part I) NSA Technologies & Best Practices (BP)


3:50 – 4:45 Session 5: (Part II) NSA Technologies & Best Practices (BP)

4:45 – 5:00 End of Day Evaluation

Day 2 – Tuesday February 28, 2017

Time Activities

8:30 – 10:30 Session 5: (Part III) NSA Technologies & BPS


10:45 – 11:45 Session 5: (Part IV) NSA Technologies & BPs

11:45 – 12:45 Session 5: (Part V) NSA Technologies & BPs

12: 45 – 1:15 Session 5: (Part VI) NSA Technologies & BPs

1:15 – 2:15 Lunch

2:15 – 3:35 Session 6: Nutrition & AGP2


3:50 – 4:50 Session 7 NSA Behavior Change Communication (BCC) for farmers


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4:50 – 5:00 Day 3 study tour briefing & preparation


Day 3 – Wednesday March 1, 2017

Time Activities

8:30 – 12:15 Session 8: NSA Study tour

1:15 – 2:15 Lunch

2:30 – 3:35 Study tour – Unpacking (Group Exercise)


3:50 – 4:45 Study tour – Group Presentation

4:45 – 5:00 End of Day Evaluation Day 4 – Thursday March 2, 2017

Time Activities

8:30 – 8:45 Recap of day two and three

8:45 – 10:45 Session 9: Gender dimensions of NSA


10:45 – 1:15 Gender dimension of NSA

1:15 – 2:15 Lunch

2:15 – 3:35 Session 10: Adult learning, effective facilitation


3:50 – 4:45 Negotiation skills


Day 5 Friday March 3, 2017

Time Activities

8:30 – 8:45 Recap of day four

8:45 – 10:45 Session 11: NSA M&E


11:00 – 1:30 Session 12 (Part 1): NSA Accountability Matrix Session 12 (Part 2): NSA Action Planning

1:30 – 2:30 Lunch

2:30 – 3:35 Session 12 (Part 3): NSA Action Planning

3:35– 3:50 Coffee Break

3:50 – 4:00 NSA Post-test evaluation

4:00 – 4:45 Evaluation of ToT and wrap up

4:45 Closing


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SESSION 2 REFERENCES

Major Nutrition Concerns and their Consequences on Social and Economic Development

LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this session participants will:

• Be familiar with the terms that will be used throughout the training and the six food groups

• Understand the major nutrition problems globally and in Ethiopia and their consequences on human, social and economic development

• Understand the causes and consequences of malnutrition and their impact on social and economic development in Ethiopia


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Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture – Key Terms to Know! Malnutrition This is a general term that includes many conditions, such as

undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrient deficiency diseases.

Under-nutrition When the body receives less nutrients than required.

Over-nutrition Excessive food intake and imbalance of nutrients which can lead to other health conditions such as obesity, gout, arthritis, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Micronutrient deficiency

Deficiency of vitamins and minerals occur alongside undernutrition or obesity. Often referred to as “hidden hunger” as it often has no visible signs. The most common deficiencies are iron, vitamin A, iodine and zinc.

Stunting Characterized by shortness, stunting is an indicator of chronic (long-term) malnutrition. It is often associated with poor physical and intellectual development during childhood, and it is one of the harmful effects of poverty.

Wasting Characterized by thinness, wasting is an indicator of acute (short-term) malnutrition. Wasting is usually the result of recent food insecurity, infections or acute illnesses such as diarrhoea.

Underweight Underweight is an indicator of both acute and chronic malnutrition.

Biofortification This is the process of breeding food crops that are rich in micronutrients, such as vitamin A, zinc, or iron. Examples of such crops include orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, iron beans and pearl millet, vitamin A maize and cassava, and zinc wheat and rice. Some crops are considered micronutrient-efficient varieties, meaning that they grow deeper roots in mineral-deficient soils and are better at tapping subsoil water and absorbing minerals.

Food security Food security exists when all people, at all times have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy life. Food security comprises four (4) dimensions: Food Availability, Food Access, Food Utilization and Food Stability.

Food availability Having enough volume of food from household production, at food markets, and through food assistance.

Food access Having enough income and savings to buy the right volume of high-quality food for a nutritious diet. Important factors include who makes household spending decisions, food prices, and access to food markets.

Food utilization Depends on health status (i.e., how efficiently the body uses food to get energy and essential nutrients like vitamins and minerals from the diet); access to safe (potable) water and good sanitation; knowledge of safe food storage; household food processing; childcare practices; and ability to care for the sick.


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Food stability Having both reliable food availability and consistent access to food over time.

Dietary diversity This is defined as the number and variety of individual food items or food groups consumed over a given period of time.

Nutrition sensitive programs

These are programs that address the underlying determinants of foetal and child nutrition, including most activities in agriculture, education, water and sanitation, income generation, social protection, and health.

Nutrition specific programs

These are programs that address the immediate determinants of maternal and young child nutrition and development, such as immunizations, breastfeeding, and feeding and hygiene practices.

Nutrition sensitive agriculture

Aims to maximize the impact of nutrition outcomes for the poor, while minimizing the unintended negative nutrition consequences of agricultural interventions and policies on the poor, especially women and young children. Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture is agriculture with a nutrition lens, and should not detract from the sector’s own goals.


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Food Group Basics (6)

1. Staples: Foods in this include cereal grains such as sorghum, millet, maize, barley, oats, wheat, teff, rice, and starchy roots (cassava, sweet potato, false banana and potato). They are good sources of energy. 2. Legumes and Nuts: This group includes ground nuts, soya beans, beans, peas, chick peas, broad beans, kidney beans, lentils. They provide mainly protein and are important for growth, repair and body building. 3. Animal Foods: All of the foods in this group are of animal origin such as meat, poultry, eggs, milk products and fish. They provide protein, fats, vitamins and minerals. They help the child to grow, have strong bones and be healthy. 4. Vegetables: Include green leaf and yellow vegetables such as cabbage, kale, spinach, cauliflower, lettuce, carrot, celery, cucumber, eggplant, green pepper, broccoli, pumpkin, onions, tomato and others such as mushroom. They provide mostly vitamins, minerals and water. Vegetables also contain fiber that is necessary for proper digestion. 5. Fruits: They include citrus fruits (oranges, lemons and mandarins), bananas, apple, avocado, cherry, grapes, pineapple, papaya, mango, peach, guava, watermelon, sweet melon and many others. Fruits provide mostly carbohydrates, vitamins & water. They help to protect from illness. 6. Fats: This group includes oil seeds (soybean, sesame, linseed and groundnut), avocado, cooking oil, milk and milk products such as butter, margarine, yoghurt, meat, fish and poultry. They mainly provide fat (additional energy).


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2016 Global Nutrition Report1 Few challenges facing the global community today match the scale of malnutrition, a condition that directly affects one in three people. Malnutrition manifests itself in many different ways: as poor child growth and development; as individuals who are skin and bone or prone to infection; as those who are carrying too much weight or who are at risk of chronic diseases because of excess intake of sugar, salt, or fat; or those who are deficient in important vitamins or minerals. Malnutrition and diet are by far the biggest risk factors for the global burden of disease: every country is facing a serious public health challenge from malnutrition. The economic consequences represent losses of 11 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) every year in Africa and Asia, whereas preventing malnutrition delivers $16 in returns on investment for every $1 spent. The world’s countries have agreed on targets for nutrition, but despite some progress in recent years the world is off track to reach those targets. This third stocktaking of the state of the world’s nutrition points to ways to reverse this trend and end all forms of malnutrition by 2030. Over the past decade, momentum around nutrition has been steadily building: In 2012 the World Health Assembly adopted the 2025 Global Targets for Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition. The following year, it went on to adopt targets for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including those relevant to nutrition. Also in 2013, at the rst Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit, donors committed US$23 billion to actions to improve nutrition. With the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in 2014 and with the recent naming of 2016–2025 as the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, more and more people have begun to recognize the importance of addressing malnutrition in all its forms. In 2015, the UN Sustainable Development Goals enshrined the objective of “ending all forms of malnutrition,” challenging the world to think and act differently on malnutrition—to focus on all its faces and work to end it, for all people, by 2030. Now, 2016 brings major opportunities to translate this commitment into action. Malnutrition and poor diets constitute the number-one driver of the global burden of disease. We already know that the annual GDP losses from low weight, poor child growth, and micronutrient deficiencies average 11 percent in Asia and Africa—greater than the loss experienced during the 2008–2010 financial crisis. The burden of malnutrition falls heavily on all of us, whether directly suffering or not. But these costs also represent large opportunities for human and economic betterment, and this report provides many examples of countries that have seized these opportunities to improve the lives of their people and the health of their societies by addressing malnutrition.

1 http://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/130355/filename/130566.pdf

http://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/130355/filename/130566.pdf


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Nutrition Situation in Ethiopia (*this excerpt is from the MoANR/MoLF Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Strategy, Introduction Section) Despite the tremendous achievements in the sector, the problem of food and nutrition security remains the main health and development issue for the country. The prevalence of stunting among children 6-59 months old is 40% and the prevalence of wasting and underweight is recorded to be 9% and 27% respectively. Micronutrients deficiency is also pervasive and severe in the country. About 44% of under five children, 30% of adolescents, 22% of pregnant women, 17% of women of reproductive age are anemic. Consumption of minimum acceptable diet by children in Ethiopia is only 4%, which is very low compared to other sub-Saharan countries (EDHS 2014). Studies have shown that dietary diversity and micronutrient status of individuals were positively correlated (Arimond, et al. 2011). The household dietary diversity was also shown to be affected by the diversity of agricultural production (Jonesa, Shrinivasb, & Bezner-Kerr, 2014). Though consumption of food from different food groups is good for optimum nutrition, the consumption of diverse diet is low in Ethiopia. For instance Dependency on rain-fed agriculture and subsistent farming system, low genetic potential of indigenous animals and poor animal husbandry practices, limited access to water and animal feed, the widespread influence of disease and parasites, low coverage and quality of the agricultural extension system, low educational status of most farming households and pastoralists, land degradation, soil infertility, lack of gender sensitivity which is explained by low participation and benefit of women from agricultural technologies and interventions are among other factors contributing to the problem of under-nutrition. On average, female farm managers in Ethiopia produce 23% less per hectare than their male counterparts (MoA, 2015). Ethiopia’s female farmers face multiple challenges such as access to land, extension services, inputs, technologies and also competing household and child care responsibilities that hinder their productivity. Though diversification was part of the Ethiopian investment policy framework 2010/11-2019/20, the agricultural and livestock & fishery sector focused primarily on increasing productivity, market oriented production of cash crops with minimum consideration of expansion of diverse food availability and overall nutrition security. Agriculture and livestock contribution to nutrition so far has been limited as the dietary diversity of the population is very low (Goshu et al 2013). The FAO STAT 2011 also states that the food availability per-capita is limited specially regarding meat, fruits and vegetables based sources. The agriculture and livestock sector has already put in place programs and initiatives that directly and indirectly contribute to better nutrition. The agriculture sector, represented by the three ministries, is one of the signatories of the NNP II, Seqota declaration and CAADP implementation that needs due attention and extra efforts to translate the planned activities in to actions with more emphasis on dietary diversification and proper utilization of foods of both plant and animal origin. The sector has also clearly incorporated nutrition objectives and indicators in its two flagship programs called AGP II and PSNP IV.


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Evidences have shown that mere nutrition specific interventions alone even with 90% coverage would only result in reduction of stunting by only 20% which clearly depicts that the need for implementing nutrition sensitive interventions through multi-sectoral approach to address the gap which are believed to impact for 80% reduction in stunting (Ruel, Alderman and MCNSG, 2013). Hence, the contribution of the agriculture and livestock sector, in this regard, is very vital. Considering that about 84% of Ethiopians live in rural areas and are primarily engaged in farming and livestock rearing activities, initiating and strengthening Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture (NSA) in the agriculture sector is critical. NSA aims to maximize the positive impact of the food system on nutrition outcomes while minimizing any unintended, negative consequences of agricultural policies and interventions for the population. It is a food and nutrition-based approach to agricultural development that focused on year-round availability, access and consumption of diverse, safe and nutritious foods of plant and animal source and sustainable agricultural systems at the heart of overcoming malnutrition and its consequences.


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What is Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture?


• Be able to describe and give examples of nutrition sensitive agriculture programme approaches

• Understand the main pathways linking agriculture and nutrition


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Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Pre-test *This pre-test was developed by Save the Children for the ENGINE Project, DA Trainer Manual (2012)

Statement Yes No

1 By increasing agricultural production, we can fully address the problem of malnutrition

2 Malnutrition can affect agricultural production by decreasing farmers’ productivity

3 Though malnutrition can affect individuals, it does not impact the economic development of a country

4 By improving agricultural practices, we could bring better nutritional outcomes

5 Development agents don’t have any role to play in improving the nutritional status of households

6 Teff, sorghum, millet and maize all represent different food groups

7 A good diet needs to include foods from at least four different food groups every day

8 Spinach, kale & other green leafy vegetables should not be given to children under one year of age

9 When a child is born, his/her intelligence quotient and how well the child will do in school are already determined.

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Post-harvest handling has nothing to do with the nutritional content of agricultural products

11 Increasing an income of a household will automatically bring about improvement in the nutritional status of he family

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Homestead production of high value crops such as vegetables and fruits used to be encouraged through the extension service as sources of additional income generation rather than addressing nutritional problems

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Smallholder farmers can adopt new technologies as long as the technology is found to be productive

14 Empowering mothers to have a decision role at HH level will contribute to reducing malnutrition

15 Malnutrition is not a problem for successful smallholders as they earn substantial income from the sales of staple crops and livestock they produce


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Agriculture Nutrition Pathways – 3 Scenarios2 SCENARIO ONE – “The Food Production Pathway”

• Increased food production (including production of nutrient-rich foods) leads to increased food consumption (assuming what is produced will, indeed, be consumed)

• Increased food consumption (including consumption of nutrient-rich foods) leads to increased nutrient intake

• Increased nutrient intake improves child and maternal nutrition

SCENARIO TWO – “The Agriculture Income Pathway”

• Increased food production leads to increased incomes

• Part of the increased income is spent on food from the market (including nutrient-rich food)

• Consumption of food from the market (including nutrient- rich food) leads to increased nutrient intake

• Increased nutrient intake improves child and maternal nutrition SCENARIO THREE – “The Women’s Empowerment Pathway”

• Increased food production increases household incomes

• Part of the increased income from food sales can be spent on health care (assuming positive health-seeking behaviors are practiced)

***** Conceptual Framework: Linkages between agriculture, nutrition and health3

2Improving Nutrition through Agriculture Technical Brief Series: Understanding and Applying Primary Pathways and

Principles (USG, FTF, 2015): https://www.spring-nutrition.org/sites/default/files/publications/briefs/spring_understandingpathways_brief_1_0.pdf 3 Adapted from Gillespie, Harris, Kadiyala, 2012 (http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/1440425/1/The_AgricultureNutrition_Disconnect_in_India_What_Do_We_Know.pdf)

https://www.spring-nutrition.org/sites/default/files/publications/briefs/spring_understandingpathways_brief_1_0.pdf

https://www.spring-nutrition.org/sites/default/files/publications/briefs/spring_understandingpathways_brief_1_0.pdf

http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/1440425/1/The_AgricultureNutrition_Disconnect_in_India_What_Do_We_Know.pdf

http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/1440425/1/The_AgricultureNutrition_Disconnect_in_India_What_Do_We_Know.pdf


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Agriculture-Nutrition Linkage Framework (*excerpt from the MoANR/MoLF Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Strategy, Introduction Section)

Agriculture and nutrition are intrinsically interlinked. The GTP II May 2016 in subsection 6.2 states that the government of Ethiopia is determined to build a nutrition secured country. Nutrition security, according to this document, is expected to be attained through efforts made in the areas of HH FS, child and maternal care, and healthy environment creation. Agricultural production is one of the important means for achieving food and nutrition security. Increasing agricultural productivity has the potential to improve household food security and nutrition of the population. Healthier and well-nourished agricultural labor force are more productive, earn more income, and contribute to further economic growth and development. The contribution of nutrition to the increase of agriculture labor force productivity is enormous. Therefore, Ethiopia NSA strategy focuses among others on the UNICEF 1990 causal relationship b/n HH food security and malnutrition and death through inadequate dietary effect. This strategy in addition to the dietary effect also focuses on the low productivity of labor due to undernourishment on HH food security (Benson, 2005). In order to develop appropriate nutrition sensitive agricultural strategies, it is important to understand the linkage between agriculture and nutrition. There are multiple links that connect agriculture production to nutritional status. As illustrated above, improved production of diverse, safe and nutrient dense foods through a number of technologies is vital to ensure availability and access to foods. Improving income through on and off-farm agricultural activities is also one of the path ways to ensure food and nutrition security. The NNP describes that gender is the cause and consequence of hunger and malnutrition and gender inequality to be associated with higher levels of acute and chronic under-nutrition. The design and delivery of key nutrition sensitive agriculture messages to households using evidence-based behaviour changes strategies can positively impact on nutrition. Therefore, the proposed nutrition sensitive interventions in this strategic document is trying to consider these three pathways as a means to improve production, income and food consumption at household level. In light of the evidence by Herforth & Harris (2014) and others, the government will approach Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture with a focus on agriculture and food through both dietary and labor productivity enhancing interventions. This needs reviews in the areas of agricultural research and extension programs which are mainly under theMoANR, MoLF and the BoA and other conserned insitutions with in regions. NSA also requires integration of nutrition education both at hogher learning institutions as well as ATVETS levels. This requires reviews in the agricultural extension system of the country. The other systems that should address NSA issues in the sector are marketing and trade, multiplication and development, processing and consulption. Food market development, demand creation for diverse safe and nutritious food of plant and animal source, and


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nutrition education focused on positive behavioural and dietary habit changes as catalysts to bring about positive changes in nutrition. This NSA strategy is developed to add value and create synergy between the agriculture sectors initiatives, with that of the National Nutrition Programme, the ‘Sekota declaration’ (a declaration to end hunger by 20130 in Ethiopia) and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Plan (CAADP) among others. The Strategy shall harness the full potential of the agriculture sector to improve the nutritional status of Ethiopians especially those of mothers and children. The strategy serves as a tool to ensure policies, strategies; program, interventions and actors supporting the sector apply nutrition-sensitive food and agriculture-based approaches to agriculture sector to contribute in the improvement of nutritional status of the population in concern.


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NNP2 and the MoANR/MoLF NSA Strategy LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this session participants will:

• Understand the Government commitments under the Seqota Declaration

• Understand the Strategic Objectives and Results Areas of the multisectoral NNP2 and the MoANR/MoLF Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Strategy


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The Seqota Declaration A GOE commitment to end child under-nutrition in Ethiopia by 2030 The momentum for nutrition improvement in Ethiopia is strong. The challenge is to lock in the current high level of commitment to reducing malnutrition in all its forms and convert it into accelerated declines. The time is right to rise to this challenge, and to this end the GOE has decided to launch an initiative known as The ‘Seqota’ Declaration – a GOE commitment to end child under-nutrition by 2030 in Ethiopia. This was launched in July 2015 at the sides of Finance for Development Conference. The components of this Declaration include, amongst others, the following: • Zero stunting in children less than 2 years; • 100% access to adequate food all year round; • Transform smallholder productivity and income; • Zero loss of food; • Sustainable food systems (climate change); • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; • Education; and • Social protection The ‘Seqota’ Declaration aims to transform the lives of Ethiopian (s) [children] through integrated community development in agriculture; health & nutrition; education; water, sanitation and hygiene as well as social protection and climate (change) sectors. This transformation agenda has child development at its centre and nutrition within its core – hence focusing on human capital development – particularly the future generation.


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The National Nutrition Programme (NNP2)4 Strategic Objective 4: Strengthen implementation of nutrition sensitive interventions across sectors Targets:

• Increase the consumption of animal products by 30% at HH level

• Increase the proportion of households consuming fruits and vegetables by 40 percent.

• Increase potable water coverage from 60 percent to 76 percent.

• Increase the proportion of primary schools with homegrown school feeding to 25 percent.

• Increase the proportion of primary schools with school gardening to 25 percent.

• Increase the proportion of schools that provide biannual de-worming to 60 percent.

Result 4.1: Strengthened implementation of nutrition sensitive interventions in the Agriculture Sector MOA has already put in place programs and initiatives that directly and indirectly contribute to the reduction of under-nutrition. These programs include Food Security Program, Agricultural Growth Program, disaster prevention and preparedness, Livestock master plan, and Agricultural Research Systems. The MOA will continue to implement and scale up these programs and initiatives with nutrition lens. The nutrition sensitive initiatives and activities in the NNP are new or refocusing existing ones to achieve nutritional outcomes. The following initiatives are identified to ensure the GTP2 of MOA is nutrition sensitive, and aligned with GTP 2 agricultural sector strategic objectives. Initiatives:

1. Update agriculture sector policy/strategies and guideline linked with nutrition sensitive interventions

a. Gap analysis of the existing policy/strategy documents b. Incorporate the nutrition objectives in this document to all policies, programs

and annual plans of the ministry c. Advocacy and sensitization on nutrition sensitive-agriculture interventions d. Mainstream nutrition interventions into the agriculture program/projects and

investment frameworks, and action plans e. Build on and ensure the dissemination and implementation of NNP at all levels of

MOA f. Prepare implementation guideline to facilitate smooth implementation g. strengthen agriculture education curriculums to standardize nutrition-sensitive

agriculture pre-service education in agriculture colleges and universities

4 MoANR/MoLF Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Strategy (excerpt)


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2. Improve intra-sectoral nutrition coordination across agriculture, livestock,

natural resource, DRMFSS ministries and gender at all levels

a. Overseeing nutrition related strategies, guidelines b. Strengthen the food and nutrition unit of MOA that will be primarily responsible

for coordinating the mainstreaming of nutrition in the agriculture sector c. Strengthening nutrition mainstreaming/linkages with in the MOA {Livestock

Sector (fishery, dairy, poultry, etc.), horticulture, crops, food security, natural resource Sector, gender etc.}

d. Establish and strengthen nutrition linkages in various agriculture programs/projects (PSNP4, AGP2, drought resilience sustainable livelihood program etc.).

3. Increase year-round availability, access and consumption of diverse, safe and

nutritious food

a. Increase household production and consumption of fruits and vegetables b. Ensure access to quality fruit and vegetable seeds and other inputs c. Support the establishment of fruit and vegetable nursery sites and

demonstration sites at FTCs d. Promote homestead, urban, and school gardening e. Promote and support community level production of fruits and vegetable f. Promote production and consumption of bio-fortified vegetables (OFSP, etc.) g. Improve postharvest handling and processing and ensure safety h. Improve market linkage for fruit and vegetable

4. Increase production and household consumption of nutrient-dense cereals and

pulses a. Promote production and consumption of bio-fortified crops (High Iron Beans,

QPM, etc.) b. Promote production and consumption of nutrient dense pulses c. Promote nutrient enhancing and consumption of mix of cereals and pulse d. Promote and increase household access to fortified flours through farmers

cooperatives

5. Increase production and household consumption of animal source foods a. Increase production and household consumption of meat, milk and egg b. Promote rearing of improved breeds of dairy cattle, small ruminants, and poultry c. Support the establishment of milk collection center and improved milk processing

technologies at household level d. Promote confined/caged poultry production systems e. Increase production and consumption of fish f. Promote small scale beekeeping by women and other vulnerable groups g. Ensure the safety of animal sources foods h. Improve farmers’ access to fodders considering safety


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i. Support /establish agro business centers and FTCs to promote production of poultry, fisheries, small livestock stock and cattle.

j. Strengthening linkages with local markets and ensure that small-holder farmers and pastoralists have consistent access to input and produce markets and income streams

6. Integrate nutrition sensitive approaches to transfer programs a. Ensure asset transfers or asset building interventions properly targets women and

vulnerable households b. Ensure vulnerable households with a malnourished child are adequately targeted

in transfer and safety net initiatives c. Improve the nutritional value of the food basket with the addition of pulses or the

equivalent cash value. d. Enhance the implementation of nutrition-sensitive public works e. Introduce soft conditionality related to attendance at BCC events or uptake of

other services, in order to increase health-seeking behavior

7. Enhanced Agricultural research and adoption of technology for increased household access to safe nutritious food

a. Support development of improved breeds of dairy cattle, small ruminants, and poultry, and increase access to farmers

b. Support development of bio-fortified crops and vegetables and increase access to farmers

c. Establish bio-fortification center and capacity at EIAR d. Identify and scale up selected best practices on preservation, storage and

/processing of fruit and vegetable, dairy product, fish, and animal products at farm and household level

e. Promote women’s labour and time saving technologies f. Research and produce micronutrient enhanced fertilizers, e.g. Zinc fortified

fertilizer

8. Improved natural resources base to improve food availability a. Increase access to small scale irrigation/ water conservation systems for home

gardening, and fishery b. Identify and promote production and consumption of locally available

underutilized nutrient dense foods, including proper management of wild fruits c. Promote fodder production on soil and water conservations structures

9. Increased nutrition-sensitive agriculture knowledge and practice of farmers a. Improve household dietary diversity knowledge and practice of farmers b. Establish appropriate nutrition behavior change communication strategies

relevant for NSA c. Conduct regular food demonstration at FTCs and farmers exchange events d. Use local media to address food taboos and cultural constrains e. Integrate SBCC relevant for NSA in all farmers and DAs training manuals.


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MoANR/MoLF Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Strategy 5 1. PRINCIPLES

• Community participation and ownership

• Special consideration to women, youth and children

• Need and evidence based program planning and implementation

• Innovative and indigenous knowledge based

• Inclusive of relevant stakeholders and working at all levels

• Multi-sectoral collaboration and coordination

• Building competency based capacity of front-line service providers

• Environmental friendliness and sustainability

• GOAL The overall goal of the NSA strategy is to contribute to the NNP II goal of improving nutritional status of children and women by increasing the quantity and quality of food available, accessible and affordable, and promoting utilization of diverse, nutritious and safe foods for all Ethiopians at all times 3. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

SO1: To leverage nutrition into agriculture and livestock policies, strategies, programmes and work plans at all levels

SO2: To establish/strengthen institutional and organizational structures and capacity responsible for planning and implementing nutrition sensitive agriculture

SO3: To increase year-round availability, access and consumption of diverse, nutritious foods of both plant and animal origin

SO4: To enhance resilience of vulnerable agrarian, agro-pastoral and pastoral households and communities prone to climate change and moisture stress

SO5: To ensure women and youth empowerment and gender equality

SO6: To establish/strengthen multi-sectoral coordination within the agriculture sector and with signatories of the NNP and other development partners

5 MoANR/MoLF Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Strategy (2016), Excerpt.


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NSA Technologies and Best Practices SESSION 5 LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this session participants will:

• Be familiar with examples of best practices for nutrition sensitive agriculture technologies and approaches

• Be able to use tools to assess new or existing agriculture activities for their “nutrition sensitivity”

• Understand the entry points for nutrition sensitive agriculture along the value chain

• Understand the nutritional value of different crops, best practices and evidence for their promotion


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10 Key policy and programming principles for improving nutrition through agriculture 6 1. Incorporate explicit nutrition objectives and indicators into their design and

track and mitigate potential harms while seeking synergies with economic, social, and environmental objectives.

2. Assess the context at the local level to design appropriate activities to address

the types and causes of malnutrition

3. Target the vulnerable and improve equity through participation, access to resources, and decent employment.

4. Collaborate and coordinate with other sectors (health, environment, social

protection, labor, water and sanitation, education, and energy) and programs through joint strategies with common goals to address concurrently the multiple underlying causes of malnutrition.

5. Maintain or improve the natural resource base (water, soil, air, climate, and

biodiversity), which is critical to the livelihoods and resilience of vulnerable farmers and to sustainable food and nutrition security for all. Manage water resources in particular to reduce vector-borne illness and to ensure sustainable, safe household water sources.

6. Empower women by ensuring access to productive resources, income

opportunities, extension services and information, credit, and labor- and time-saving technologies (including energy and water services) and by supporting their voice in household and farming decisions. Equitable opportunities to earn and learn should be compatible with safe pregnancy and young child feeding.

7. Facilitate production diversification, and increase production of nutrient-dense

crops and small-scale livestock (for example, horticultural products, legumes, livestock and fish at a small scale, underutilized crops, and biofortified crops). Diversified production systems are important to vulnerable producers to enable resilience to climate and price shocks, more diverse food consumption, reduction of seasonal food and income fluctuations, and greater and more gender-equitable income generation.

8. Improve processing, storage, and preservation to retain nutritional value, shelf

life, and food safety; reduce seasonality of food insecurity and post-harvest losses; and make healthy foods convenient to prepare.

6 Reference: FAO Synthesis of Guiding Principles on Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture, 2013 (http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/wa_workshop/docs/Synthesis_of_Ag-Nutr_Guidance_FAO_IssuePaper_Draft.pdf)

http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/wa_workshop/docs/Synthesis_of_Ag-Nutr_Guidance_FAO_IssuePaper_Draft.pdf



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9. Expand markets and market access for vulnerable groups, particularly for

marketing nutritious foods or products vulnerable groups have a comparative advantage in producing. is can include innovative promotion (such as marketing based on nutrient content), value addition, access to price information, and farmer associations.

10. Incorporate nutrition promotion and education around food and sustainable

food systems that builds on existing local knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Nutrition knowledge can enhance the impact of production and income in rural households, which is especially important for women and young children, and can increase demand for nutritious foods in the general population.


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Examples of NSA Activities along the value chain7

Value Chain Examples Entry points for nutrition-sensitive interventions Roots and tubers Dark-colored root vegetables

Bio-fortified orange sweet potato and cassava NOTE: starchy staples (e.g., cassava, white potatoes) are not nutrient-dense as defined in Table 3 Nutrition-sensitive agriculture work on starchy staples is still possible, but will entail additional analysis and planning

Legumes: Groundnuts Soybeans Chickpeas Beans

Increase availability and consumption Mycotoxin (e.g., aflatoxin) control Soybean as an ingredient in animal food to increase availability of animal source protein Processing of soy into flour that can fortify traditional foods

Livestock: Cattle (meat, dairy) Poultry (meat, eggs) Goat (meat, milk, cheese) Sheep (meat, milk, cheese) Camels (meat, milk, cheese) Micro-livestock (e.g., guinea pigs, rabbits)

Ensure nutrient value of animal source foods is understood and encourage consumption Ensure safe handling of manure to avoid contaminating food Consider penning poultry to avoid environmental enteropathy Promote high standards of hygiene, sanitation, and food safety in handling, preserving and processing milk, meat, cheese, and eggs

Aquaculture Integrate vegetable production around fish ponds Promote polyculture that favors home consumption Ensure ponds do not become malaria mosquito breeding sites

Horticulture: Vegetables (e.g., carrots, kale, cabbage, sweet green pepper, okra) Fruit (e.g., mango, avocado, citrus, passion fruit)

Promote nutrient-rich foods preferred in the locality Encourage consumption as appropriate Include a social and behavior change component Crops next to the house are easily tended Consider fruit, nut, citrus, and/or fodder trees

Bio-fortified tubers, legumes, and cereals

Vitamin A-rich maize Vitamin A-rich sweet potato Vitamin A-rich cassava Iron-rich beans Iron-rich pearl millet Zinc-rich rice Zinc-rich wheat

7 Reference: USAID Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture: Nutrient Rich Value Chains Technical Guidance Brief (2016)

Recommendations On The Drivers For The Adoption Of Agriculture Technologies8

• Promoting a systemic approach for enhancing farmers’ livelihoods through agricultural growth and inclusive development is an important pathway. To attain the twin objectives of food security and commercialization of agriculture, intensification with diversification and intensification with specialization must be tailored to the comparative advantage of each agricultural location. This reinforces the momentum of the current agricultural growth and transformation of smallholder subsistence agriculture.

• Even though the drivers and inhibitors show many similarities across regions, the woreda specific dynamics of adoption need to be prioritised to overcoming of major constraints and inhibitors of adoption. One-size fits-all approach does not work and the use of location and context specific recommendations should be adopted by the extension services.

• Capability of the farmers to innovate and change need to be enhanced through joint experimentation to adapt technologies to local realities and resource endowments. The technology-push based approach, through the extension system, does not always solve the constraints farmers face and hence adoption is low. Issues of market, risk mitigation, conservation and rehabilitation of natural resources, and infrastructure development deserve attention to promote demand driven change.

• Technology packages should be adjusted for the type of commodity, not every commodity is suitable for high intensity technologies. A prime example is sorghum, which is grown as a subsistence and food security crop.

• Looking beyond technology specific conditions such as input supply and technical support is important. The timeline analysis and focus group discussions indicated that for instance infrastructure development and supporting institutions such as farmer training centres (FTCs) do indeed enhance technology uptake. To transform agriculture in Ethiopia from subsistence to commercial, the focus should not only be on technology but also on the enabling environment.

• The research and extension system is urged to design affordable and farmer friendly row making and row seeding technology.

8 http://www.cascape.info/index.php/news/121-cascape-published-a-study-report-on-drivers-for-adoption-of-agricultural-technologies-and-practices-in-ethiopia-cascape-published-a-study-report-on-drivers-for-adoption-of-agricultural-technologies-and-practices-in-ethiopia-in-the-last-two-decades-the-agr


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• The extension service needs to work on educating and familiarizing farmers about artificial insemination and improve its availability while demonstrating its profitability.

• The findings identified structural and policy variables as drivers and inhibitors of technology adoption. Given the stable and relatively static nature of structural variables, policy makers should focus on policy variables to optimize technology adoption and achievement of policy outcomes.

• The criteria for assigning the label of model to a farmer should be applied according to the criteria set by the Ministry of Agriculture. These are based on good farming practice, not on wealth and education. Moreover, the model status is dynamic and needs to be revisited periodically.


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NSA AND AGP II LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this session participants will:

• Be familiar with the AGP II Development Objective and its five Programme Components

• Understand some of the entry points and barriers for NSA across each of the Programme Components


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AGPII Project Development Objective and PDO indicators (Excerpt from AGP II Project Implementation Manual/PIM) The Program Development Objective (PDO) is to increase agricultural productivity9 and commercialization10 of smallholder farmers targeted by the program and contributes to dietary diversity and consumption at HH level. The project would also contribute to the higher-level objectives of poverty reduction, and climate change mitigation and adaptation through supported climate smart agriculture initiatives. The PDO indicators are:

1) Percentage increase in yield for selected crops in targeted households

(benefiting directly from the project; disaggregated by Male Headed

Households (MHH) and Female Headed Households (FHH));

2) Percentage increase in yield for selected animal products in targeted

households (benefiting directly from the project; disaggregated by MHH

and FHH);

3) Proportion of production sold by targeted households for selected crops

(targeted households are benefiting directly from the project;

disaggregated by MHH and FHH));

4) Proportion of animal production sold by targeted beneficiaries for

selected products (targeted beneficiaries are benefiting directly from the

project; disaggregated by male and female (FHH and married female).

5) Household dietary diversity: - increase in average number of food groups

consumed at HH level11.

6) Number of direct project beneficiaries.

9 Agricultural productivity is defined as yields for selected key crops and animal products. 10 Commercialization is defined in terms of proportion of marketed production of selected key

crops and animal products by smallholder farmers. 11 This Indicator will be monitored by the additional fund by the EU for Complimentary Action to

promote Nutrition in to AGP 2 conducted by consultant


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AGP II Programme Components (Excerpt from AGP II Project Implementation Manual/PIM) The paragraphs below provide a brief description of the five Program components. For a detailed Program description, see Annex 2 of the PAD

Component I: Public Agricultural Support Services (US$129 million) –

The objective of this component is to increase access to public agricultural services

for smallholder farmers, the program will support:

(i) The identification of local priorities for public services through the

establishment, operation and strengthening of Agriculture Development

Partners Linkage Advisory Councils (ADPLACs), and linkages to other

planning mechanisms including community consultation and local

strategic planning;

(ii) The strengthening of public services delivery, including for agricultural

extension service, animal production and animal health services, crop

production and plant health services, natural resource management

services, soil fertility management services, and agricultural

mechanization;

(iii) The scaling up of “best” practices of agricultural technologies and

management practices in agricultural production and post-harvest

activities. This would include the identification (through a community

consultation process), validation and verification of local practices.

Component II: Agricultural Research (US$51.4 million) –

The objective of this component is to increase the supply of demand driven

agricultural technologies that directly link to the other components. Under this

component, the project will support:

(a) Technology adaptation and generation:- This focuses on the release of

improved technologies to the agricultural extension system. It is

implemented through:(i) the release of selected pipeline technologies

from end stage trials, including for crop varieties and management

practices, poultry breeds, forage crops, irrigated crop management, acid

soil and Vertisol management, integrated nutrient management, and soil

and water conservation technologies; and ii) design and implementation

of a research program based on assessment of farmers demand in the

framework of AGP2 objectives, AGP2 selected value chain commodities

and considering cross cutting issues (nutrition, gender and Climate Smart

Agriculture).


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(b) Pre-extension demonstration and participatory on-farm technology

piloting through FRGs for recommended agricultural technologies and

supporting and facilitation of Farmer Research and Extension Groups

(FREGs) to enhance adoption and use of agricultural technologies

generated by the research systems.

(c) Source technology production, including the production of breeder and

pre-basic seeds for major crop varieties, multiplication of disease and

insect free tissue culture, production of source livestock and forage

technologies and multiplication of land and water resources technologies.

(d) Capacity development: supporting the development of physical and

human capacity of the agricultural research system to enhance the

capacity of the national and regional research centres to effectively

respond to technology needs for selected and priority agricultural

commodities and high value crops.

Component III: Smallholder Irrigation Development (US$218.6million):

The objective of this component is to increase the access to and efficient utilization

of irrigation water by smallholder farmers. Under this component, the Program will

support:

(a) Increased availability of irrigated water through: i) the rehabilitation,

upgrading and/or improvement of existing Small-scale Irrigation Schemes; ii)

establishment of new SSI systems integrated with access roads where

necessary; and iii) HHI systems.

(b) Improved water management services through establishing and/or

strengthening IWUAs and the introduction of improved irrigated agricultural

management.

Component IV: Agriculture Marketing and Value Chains (US$120 million)–

The objective of this component is to increase the commercialization of agricultural

products through increased smallholder farmers access to input and output markets.

Under this component, the Program would support:

(a) The promotion and distribution of agricultural inputs, specifically seed

through support to Community Based Seed Production groups and the scale

up of Direct Seed Marketing and strengthening the input tracking system.

(b) Strengthening the input and output marketing regulation and certification;

(c) Farmer’s organizations, including formal farmer organizations (Unions,

Primary Cooperatives) and informal, commercially oriented farmer groups


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(informal groups establishment would be focused on women and youth

groups). The project would support business plan preparation and

implementation, including through the provision of equipment and inputs to

qualifying groups. Service providers, including the Cooperative Agency, would

receive capacity support. Improved access to credit (both rural savings and

credit cooperatives (RUSACCOs) and Micro-finance Institutions (MFIs)) would

be facilitated.

(d) The strengthening of selected livestock and crop value chains (VCs), to be

identified through a market analysis process and consistent with

commercialization clustering, including a range of activities including

technical assistance to cooperatives and market buyers (including processors

and exporters), linkages between VC participants, including from importing

markets (such as participation in trade shows); competitive matching grants

and innovation grants. This sub-component to be financed through a parallel

financing mechanism funded by USAID;

(e) Market infrastructure development and management, including (i)

construction and modernized management of public market centres at

Woreda level; (ii) where clear rationale and exit strategy for public sector

investment is demonstrated, to support the construction of warehouses,

storage and grading facilities; and (iii) foot bridges which address critical

market access bottlenecks for communities.

Component V: Project Management, Capacity development, Monitoring, and Evaluation (US$62.8 million).

The objective of this component is to ensure the timely implementation of the

Program according to its core principles and PDO, effective monitoring and

evaluation (M&E) of results, including results related to crosscutting issues, and a

consistent and effective approach to capacity development. Under this component,

the Program would support:

(i) Project management and coordination,

(ii) Monitoring, evaluation and learning,

(iii) Capacity Development Support Facility, to improve the quality of

capacity development interventions; and strengthen the institutional

capacity of Implementation Agencies (IAs).

(iv) Mainstreaming cross-cutting issues (gender, nutrition and Climate Smart

Agriculture) throughout the above components and through specific

activities of the cross-cutting issues.


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Nutrition Education for Farmers LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this session participants will:

• Be able to use and critically assess the behavior change communication (BCC) components of agriculture programs to improve nutrition

• Know how to use samples of nutrition sensitive agriculture BCC materials


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What is behaviour change communication? It is an approach that uses communication, which seeks to persuade, or incentivize individuals or communities to behave in ways that will make their lives safer, healthier or more productive BCC includes any activity whose goal is to help people practice behavior that will positively impact their health or well-being.

Guiding Principles for BCC programming: There is no one format that is “recommended to be followed for designing a communication strategy however there are key steps that are mandatory during the design phase: STEP 1: Situational analysis STEP 2 Formative research STEP 3: Design SBCC Strategy STEP 4: Setting up of communication strategy objectives STEP 5: Vetting key concepts or thematic areas (does the SBCC approach work? Are the messages persuasive? Do they reach the target audience with enough intensity and frequency?) STEP 6: Segmenting target audience Identifying influencing group Designing behaviour change messages for target and influencing groups STEP 7: Choose a media for communication (interpersonal, group, radio, dramas, television)


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EXAMPLES OF NUTRITION SENSITIVE AGRICULTURE EDUCATION MATERIALS DEVELOPED BY THE GOE “SURE PROGRAM”12

Target Behavior #1: Selection and diversity of crops Crop selection must be done with consideration of multiple factors, including: suitability for the agro-climate and soil, availability of water, level of risk, and required investment. Diversity of crops should also be considered. Message 1: Provide nutritious foods for your family with poultry, small livestock

and vegetable gardening • Maximise your family’s access to animal source foods, vegetables and fruits

by producing them for consumption at your own farm. • These foods can be expensive to buy, therefore own production may be an

appropriate solution. Message 2: Plant different crops to be harvested at different times of year

• It is important that the family and young children eat multiple food groups throughout the year.

• Consider planning crops that will increase availability of diverse foods over all seasons and months.

Message 3: Grow plants that live for more than one year, which is useful for food

security. • Some trees and shrubs can live for many years and produce foods. • Trees/bushes can also improve soil management through agroforestry.

12 Adopted from GOE SURE NSA Training material. These materials are meant to serve only as an example for the purposes of the ToT of NSA messaging that could be used.


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Message 4: Grow a variety of cereals whenever possible. Intercrop with legumes

• Grow more than one cereal for diversity and improved land management. • Intercrops different cereals with legumes or vegetables for soil quality and

variety. Message 5: Grow diverse foods such as vegetables and fruits to eat and to sell

• In appropriate agro-climates, where commercial production is feasible, consider growing such crops to be sold on the commercial market.

• Grow some vegetables and fruits for household consumption. Message 6: Attend a farmer demonstration centre or talk to your agriculture

extension agent for help with crop selection. • Your agriculture extension agent will help to consider your farm’s specific

circumstances including soil quality, access to water, and current crops. • Consider growing crops from multiple different food groups.

Message 7: Use improved seed varieties.

• Improved seed varieties may have better survival properties, or may produce higher yields.

• If a farmer does not have the necessary improved seed varieties or inputs, encourage him or her to discuss options with the local farmer’s cooperative group, the agriculture extension worker, or kebele officials.

Message 8: Consider producing and eating nutritious foods in your area that are

available but not commonly consumed, such as wild fruits.

• This will help to provide increased access to diverse foods.

• This will maximise access to various food groups all year round.

Target Behavior #2: Improve Land Management Sustainable agricultural practices are linked with nutrition. The quality of the soil is important to nourish healthy plants and make them more nutritious for consumption. Quality soils also promote higher agricultural yields; it also results in food that is of higher nutrient-content and therefore is more nutritious for human consumption. Message 1: Rotate crops among different fields

• Crop rotation, or planting different crops on the same field in successive years, helps to control pests and diseases in the soil

• Nutrient depletion is reduced, as different crops use nutrients in different quantities

• Crops belonging to different families should be rotated each 2-3 years


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Message 2: Practice intercropping (rows of legumes and/or vegetables with main

staples)

• Intercropping maximises the use of land, nutrients, water and sunshine available, by planting crops of different heights/root depths together

• Intercropping reduces erosion.

• Use of intercropping also increases crop diversity, which is good for soil quality.

Message 3: Practice agroforestry (planting trees or shrubs to reduce erosion) in or

around planting fields

• Trees and shrubs have deep roots that help to keep the soil firm and reduce erosion.

• It is useful to plant such trees in or around the crop fields to keep soil in place.

Message 4: Practice conservation farming and minimum tillage methods to reduce

soil erosion, such as terracing

• Talk to your agriculture extension worker about appropriate conservation farming methods to reduce erosion.

• Some techniques include terracing and minimum tillage methods. Message 5: Use drainage methods to prevent excessive soil water logging or run

off

• Water logging of the soil increases run off and erosion of the topsoil. Building good drainage around the farm is very important to preserve soil.

Message 6: Plough manure from livestock back into the soil to fertilise it


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• Manure is a natural fertiliser which replaces essential nutrients back into the soil, providing for higher crop yields and more nutritious crops.

• Avoid the improper use of manure.

• Compost manure completely to kill pathogens, and incorporate it into soil at least two weeks prior to planting.

• Do not harvest produces within 120 days of a manure application.

Target Behavior #3: Improve Hygiene and Water Management Good water management practices are essential both for agricultural productivity, and for the good health and hygiene of the family. Message 1: Keep animals away from water sources

• This will prevent animal faeces from running off fields and contaminating water sources, causing diarrhoea and other diseases.

• Infants and young children need clean water to reduce infection and ensure good growth and development.

• The family’s health care expenses will be reduced with fewer illnesses.

Message 2: Use improved latrines, do not practice open defecation

• Use of improved latrines prevents human faeces

from running off from fields and contaminating water sources.

• Good sanitation will reduce diarrhoea in infants and young children. This will help to improve their growth and development.

• The family’s health care expenses will be reduced with fewer illnesses

Message 3: Filter or use settling ponds to improve water quality.

• Safe water sources are necessary for good nutrition and health. • Water quality can be improved by using filters or settling ponds, in addition

to ensuring good sanitation and hygienic practices around the farm.


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Message 4: Harvest water during the rainy season

• Reliance on rain fed agriculture alone reduces the variety and yield of crops. • Safe methods to harvest water during the rainy season should be employed

to increase water availability throughout the year.

Target Behavior #4: Improve Livestock Management for Nutrition Livestock make an important contribution to agriculture and to the nutrition of the family.

Message 1: Raise poultry, goats or sheep, or larger animals, or aquaculture,

especially high yielding or improved varieties ▪ Poultry, livestock or aquaculture can make a very important contribution to

the diet of your family and community • Use high yielding of improved varieties to increase the productivity of

animal source foods Message 2: Use confined/caged poultry production systems

• Use of cages protects chickens and prevents them from getting into the house and causing illness

• Your local AEW will be able to advise you on caged poultry systems, including: o eggs and chickens contribute to a nutritious, balanced diet,

which is especially important for children, nursing mothers and people who are ill

o Provide simple houses or shelters and perches inside houses to protect chickens and give a shelter for laying eggs

o Give unlimited access to clean water o Nutritious feeding is important to increase productivity o Control the birds’ health daily and vaccinate o Isolate a bird when it becomes ill, call the veterinary assistant or

kill the bird Message 3: Attend livestock demonstrations to learn how to care for livestock and

keep them healthy


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Your local AEW will be able to advise you on care of livestock, including: ▪ Feed only clean, fresh and dry fodder that does not have mould. ▪ Provide a diverse diet of feeds such as grasses and legumes, tree leaves and

fresh kitchen remains. ▪ Always have fresh water for livestock to drink at any time. ▪ Clean the feeding trough and water bucket every day. ▪ Feed confined livestock at least 3 times/day and at the same time every day. ▪ Vaccinate livestock and deworm before and after rains ▪ Wash animals with salt water, spent oil or repellent herbs to prevent external

parasites

Message 4: Keep livestock out of the house to avoid infectious disease ▪ Livestock faeces cause infectious diseases ▪ Infants and young children who are sleeping or crawling around on the house

floor are especially at risk of infection due to contact with livestock faces ▪ Ensure that children sleep on a raised platform and not on the floor

Message 5: Keep eggs and milk for consumption

There are highly nutritious foods that make a very important contribution to the diet

Animal source food hygiene and safety starts with what the animals eat since what goes into an animal is what comes out as a food

Clean the udder and teats before milking ▪ Keep milk and milk products in a clean and easy to clean container (if

possible aluminium can) ▪ As a “rule of thumb” eat animal source food fresh and cooked

Target Behavior #5: Use Income from Agriculture for buying nutritious foods at the market Agricultural productivity can have a positive impact on nutrition by providing money to diversify the family’s diet and to ensure health care treatment when children or family members are ill.


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Message 1: Fathers and mothers, allocate some money to buy nutritious foods at the market

o Use some of your money to buy nutritious foods for your family

o Focus on buying foods from food groups that are missing from your family’s diet

Message 2: Fathers and mothers, save money to use for nutrition or for your child’s treatment when sick

Save income for medical treatments

Save money to buy nutritious foods to eat throughout the year

Message 3: Mothers, participate in agriculture or livestock to generate income for the family

1. Mothers may earn money and food by keeping a vegetable garden, poultry, small livestock, or other livelihoods activities

2. Fathers should help mothers in the household to increase mothers’ time and support the total amount of income generated by the family

Message 4: Fathers, empower mothers to budget money for the health and nutrition of the family


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1. Mothers often prioritise the safety and well-being of children 2. Mothers are more likely to spend household resources to ensure the good

health and nutrition of the children and family 3. Fathers should recognise the special role of mothers and include them in

decision-making about how to spend household income 4. Fathers should give mothers money to save and spend as needed

Target Behavior #6: Improve the sharing of roles between fathers and mothers Message 1: Fathers, help your wife with household tasks so she can ensure your

child’s good diet 1. The role of a father is to provide good nutrition and access to health care to

his family. Earning money is one way to do this, and supporting and helping his wife is another way.

2. Feeding a child well usually takes a lot of the mother’s time (breastfeeding, cooking, washing, feeding). It is important that the father help with other tasks to ensure the good diet of his child.

Message 2: Fathers and mothers, play with your child to promote healthy growth

of mind and body • Good early childhood development is linked with

improved growth, and can be supported by playing with the child to stimulate the mind and develop the body

• In addition to nutrition, children need love and affection to help them grow well.

Message 3: Fathers and mothers, work together with respect and partnership to

help your children grow well 1. A husband and wife are a team. Only

together can they ensure that their children grow up healthy and develop to their full potential

2. Good nutrition takes time and effort. Mothers and fathers must work together and support one another to ensure diverse foods and good child feeding practices


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3. Fathers and mothers can show respect, affection and partnership to each other to support a productive environment for their children to feel secure and grow well.

Target Behavior #7: Food handling, processing and storage The nutritional content of food is affected by food handling, processing and storage. Message 1: Use safe food preparation and storage behaviours • Wash your hands with soap and water before preparing foods and feeding. • Wash your hands and your baby’s hands with soap before and after eating. • Wash your hands with soap and water after using the toilet and/or washing the

baby’s bottom. • Use clean hands, clean utensils and clean cups. • Store food in a covered container and clean place. • Cook small amounts of food to avoid long periods of storage for > a day. • Re-heat before eating. Message 2: Use good pre- and post-harvest storage and handling practices 1. Harvest at maturity 2. Solar drying or shed drying

Message 3: Use proper storage for vegetables and diffused light storage for seeds

and potatoes 1. Cool, well-ventilated storage facility protected against insects and rodents 2. Inspect produce 3. Clean and maintain the storage structure 4. Remove trash and weeds 5. Rat guards 6. Cement floors preferred 7. Disinfect used sacks 8. Wooden pallet


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NSA STUDY TOUR LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this session participants will:

• Be able to understand and assess different agricultural activities from the NSA perspective to identify barriers and make recommendations to improve their impact on increasing dietary diversity and nutrition

Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture New Activity Checklist13 During your site visits and study tour, answer and take notes for as many of the following questions as possible. Complete one form per site visit. The questions should be answered from the perspective of considering how they could be scaled up or implemented in the context of an AGP2 annual plan or project rather than considering the interventions/approaches as just small research pilots or demonstrations.

NSA Checklist Questions Yes No Comments

1. Does the intervention/approach incorporate explicit nutrition objectives? For home gardens, for example, the intervention should go beyond promoting gardens for income generation and intentionally aim to improve nutrition either through home consumption or purchase capacity from home garden revenues.

2. Do no harm. Are there potentially any negative consequences of this intervention/approach? What would they be and develop a mitigation plan and monitoring system for timely detection of negative effects. Potential harm could arise, for example, from increasing women’s workload, crop choice, agrochemicals, increased agricultural water use and zoonotic diseases.

3. If scaled up, how would the impact of this program be monitored and evaluated? Consider intermediate outcome indicators as well as nutritional status impact (e.g., dietary diversity scores).

4. What other sectoral actors would be important to involve if it was to be taken to scale?

5. How could/would women’s access to income generating opportunities and discretionary control of income be strengthened through the intervention/initiative?

6. Would vulnerable groups be targeted through this activity? (e.g., smallholder farmers, women and poor/food insecure households)

7. How could this intervention/initiative empower women? For example through (i) increasing

13 Reference: FAO Synthesis of Guiding Principles on Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture, 2016 (http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/wa_workshop/docs/Synthesis_of_Ag-Nutr_Guidance_FAO_IssuePaper_Draft.pdf)


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NSA Checklist Questions Yes No Comments

discretionary income, (ii) improving women’s access to extension services, financial services, technology, inputs, markets and information; (iii) avoiding harm to their ability to care for children; (iv) investing in labour- and time-saving technologies targeted to women; (v) advocating policies to support women’s rights to land, education and employment.

8. How could/would nutrition education be incorporated to improve consumption and nutritional effects of the interventions? Consider messages about food safety, promoting consumption of health and locally available and nutrient-dense food, understanding nutritional requirements of different family members and care/feeding practices.

9. Would this intervention help to strengthen natural resources for improved productivity, resilience to shocks, adaptation to climate change and increased equitable access to resources through soil, water and biodiversity conservation?

10. Does the intervention help to diversify production and livelihoods?

11. Does the intervention increase production of nutrient-dense foods, particularly locally-adapted varieties rich in protein, micronutrients? 1. Horticultural or legume crops 2. Animal-source foods on a small scale 3. Nutritious underutilized foods (e.g, indigenous crops) 4. Bio-fortified foods (e.g., high quality protein maize)

12. Would the intervention help to reduce post-harvest losses and improve processing to increase and prolong access to and consumption of diverse foods among both producers and consumers, or increase nutrient content of food?

13. Would/could the initiative increase market access and opportunities to improve smallholder incomes (especially women) and consumer diets?

14. Would/could the intervention reduce seasonality of food insecurity through diversification through improved storage and preservation, and other approaches.


Gender dimensions of nutrition LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this session participants will:

• Understand the gender dimensions of nutrition sensitive agriculture

• Be able to apply nutrition sensitive agriculture approaches to address the needs of women and men farmers

• Be able to analyze the contribution of women’s empowerment to overcome the challenges of malnutrition


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Gender Dimensions of Nutrition14

Introduction Gender and nutrition are inextricable parts of the vicious cycle of poverty. Gender and nutrition are not stand-alone issues; they are naturally interlinked with agriculture, health and other sectors. Gender and nutrition are mutually reinforcing. Gender inequality can be a cause as well as an effect of hunger and malnutrition. Higher levels of gender inequality are associated with higher levels of undernutrition. Women are an important group linking agricultural development and human health and nutrition. They are not only responsible for food preparation and caring practices, but in many countries women are also the main agricultural producers. Strengthening women‘s position both within the agricultural sector and within the household can significantly improve households‘ nutrition and health. Experiences from several agricultural development strategies show that much scope exists for increasing women‘s access to and control of resources. While diverging interpretations of gender exist, there is a common understanding that women and men should have equal rights and opportunities. Women continue to face discrimination and often have less access to power and resources, including those related to nutrition. This underscores the need to apply a rights-based approach to gender programming, with opportunities to leverage complementary rights-based nutrition principles such as the Right to Food. The way women and men are affected by nutrition actions differ. The commonly practiced tendency is to focus on women when addressing gender, yet this overlooks the instrumental role of men in closing the gender gap. Both men and women need to be involved in this process, acknowledging their respective roles and needs, and fostering mutual awareness and partnership. This session focuses on the gender dimension of nutrition and provides various tools for agriculture and health managers to plan gender sensitive nutrition interventions. Important Gender Related Concepts Being aware of the key role of gender, development planners and practitioner are trying their best to design gender sensitive development programs. Understanding and well describing important gender terminologies and concepts is the primary activity of development planners. Majority of these terminologies and concepts are

14 Adopted from ENGIN Training Resources, September 2013


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described below. Sex and Gender: Sex refers to biological attributes of men and women. These attributes are generally permanent, universal and cannot be changed over time. While ―Gender‖ refers to the socially constructed roles and responsibilities assigned to men and women in each culture or location. These roles are learned and they vary between cultures and they change over time. These roles are perceptions and expectations arising from cultural, social, economic, political and religious factors and laws, customs, class, ethnicity, individual or institutional bias. Table 4.1: The difference between gender and sex

Sex Gender

Biological factors from birth Social and cultural factors, not from birth

Are inborn & cannot be changed Are learned & can be changed

It is universal Differs across cultures

e.g. ✓ Only women can get pregnant ✓ Only women can give birth and breast feed

e.g. ✓ Men & women can perform housework ✓ Men and women can care for children ✓ Men & women can be engineers, drivers…etc

Gender roles It is concerned about the roles both women and men expected to fulfill in the society as defined by their virtue of being female or male. These roles are shaped by different social, economic, cultural and political factors. Both men and women play multiple roles in society. These roles can be broadly categorized into three: 1. Productive roles: Tasks which contribute to the economic welfare of the household through production of goods. Women‘s role as producers is usually undermined and undervalued.


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2. Reproductive role: Activities performed for reproduction and all forms of caring practices for the members of the household. 3. Society/Community management or socio-cultural activities: Activities primarily carried by men & women to ensure the co-existence of themselves as well as their family in their social environment. This ranges from Parliamentary Leadership to community level participations. In developing countries men control the decision-making positions along the administration hierarchy, less frequently engaged in reproductive (caring) roles. In these countries,42 especially of the sub Saharan, women share the greater productive role. These facts show that women are overburdened with triple roles and the probability that they face time related constraints in providing adequate care for the children and seeking health care is high. Gender Relations Gender refers to the power relationship between men and women. Usually, the relations between women and men are based on unequal power relations. Women‘s and men‘s gender are not only different, but they are often unequal in power, weight and value. These relations determine women‘s and men‘s access to and control over material resources and benefits. Since these relations are socially constructed they can be changed. Ensuring that women have the same access to productive resources as men and improving the gender inequalities can significantly improve nutrition and well-being for the entire household. Gender Equality, gender equity, and affirmative actions Gender equality refers to ensuring equal opportunities, resources, rights and access to goods and services between men and women, and boys and girls. Gender equality also means equal opportunities and equal responsibilities in sharing workloads and energy expended within individual capability in caring for families and communities. Gender equity refers to ensuring fair distribution of (resources, opportunities) to meet the needs that arise from the biological differences, and additional roles. Especial nutritional cares for adolescents and lactating mothers, establishment of maternity wards in the health centers, TT immunization, and iron supplementation are interventions to ensure gender


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equity. Affirmative action refers to actions taken in supporting the disadvantaged groups. Affirmative action continues as far as the gender inequality persisted for longer times. Promoting gender equality in nutrition program requires, taking into consideration the social, economic and biological differences between men and women and addressing the inequalities which are barriers to good nutrition. Gender Sensitivity Gender sensitivity is about being aware of the differences between women‘s and men‘s needs, roles, responsibilities, and constrain and seeking out opportunities and mechanisms to include and actively involve women as well as men in whatever we do. It requires redressing the existing gender inequalities by addressing gender norm, roles and access to resources in so far as needed to reach the desired development goal. Gender Analysis and Gender Mainstreaming Gender analysis refers to a systematic approach to understanding the roles, opportunities and constraints of men and women, including understanding the relations between men and women. Gender analysis provides information on who will be impacted (positively or negatively) by any interventions. It covers questions concerning the division of labor, the relative access to or control over resources and benefits by men and women. Gender mainstreaming, as defined by The United Nations refers to the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned actions, including legislation, policies, programs and projects in all areas and at all levels. Gender mainstreaming is a key strategy or approach applied for promoting gender equality in development activities. It is a process of ensuring that girls, women, boys and men are consulted and their different needs and perspectives are considered at all level. The ultimate goal of mainstreaming is to achieve the goal of gender equality. Gender mainstreaming entails a shift from focusing on women to gender analysis as part of the goal. The focus in gender mainstreaming is not exclusively on beneficiary groups but on the gender issues in the community and making all staff responsible and accountable


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Access to and control over resources and benefits Access to resources refers to ensuring opportunity to use resources with having the authority to decide on the output and the exploitation methods. Control over resources or benefits means having full right to use and authority to decide what the outputs should be and how it should be used. In general men and women have different levels of access to resources needed for their work and control over those resources. Lack of information or being inconsiderate of these aspects can lead to incorrect assumption during project designing. The analysis of access to and control over resources and benefits helps the project planner in identifying challenges which might be alleviated or tackled through the project. It can also help in identifying the potentials which could be use as well as the imbalance between men and women to be considered during the project implementation. Gender and Nutrition Sensitive Agricultural Development Women are key segments of the agricultural community in increasing agricultural production, increasing income from agriculture, and improving the nutritional status of the household. In most developing countries, agriculture is the most important source of employment for women in rural areas. Women comprise 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, near to 50 percent in Eastern and Sub-Saharan Africa. In most of these countries, the agriculture sector is underperforming, and one of the key reasons is that women do not have equal access to the resources and opportunities they need to be more productive. If the agricultural interventions are supposed to improve the nutritional outcomes, these programs need to consider gender, and women empowerment as the central key of success. Closing the gender gap in agriculture would put more resources in the hands of women and strengthen their voice within the household, a proven strategy for enhancing the food security, nutrition, education and health of children. And better fed, healthier children learn better and become more productive citizens. The benefits would span generations and pay large dividends in the future. Women and girls are affected through two main channels. 1. The limits on their access to education and employment opportunities, which curtails their economic autonomy and weakens their bargaining position within the family


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2. Through discrimination which exposes them to material deprivation and also makes it harder for them to fulfill their vital roles in food production, preparation, processing, distribution, and marketing activities. Women contribute to all 3 pillars of food security: production, access, nutrition security

1. Produce 60–80 percent of the food In sub-Saharan Africa women produce about 80 percent of household food, in Asia women do 50–90 percent of the work in rice fields

2. Women’s incomes are more strongly associated with improvements in children’s welfare/ nutrition

3. Women are the gatekeepers of household nutrition security 4. Studies show that when women farmers have the opportunity to earn

and control income, they are more likely to focus their spending on their children’s nutrition, education and health.

5. Women also are integral to alleviating hunger and malnutrition because they are primarily responsible for ensuring that food for their families is reliably available, accessible and nutritionally balanced.

FAO (2011) estimates that closing the gender gap in agriculture would generate significant gains for the agricultural sector. If women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20–30%. This, in turn, could raise total agricultural output in developing countries by up to 4%, potentially reducing the number of hungry people by 100-150 million. FAO study show that improving women’s access to inputs and services has the potential to reduce the number of malnourished people. In many societies, income controlled by women is more likely to be spent on their children or family’s nutrition than if this income is controlled by men. However women are confronting the following constraints 1. Limited access to common property resources. 2. Limited access to cash for input purchases. 3. Limited access to credit or microfinance. 4. Limited access to extension and technology. 5. Limited access to education. Key Actions to empower women

• Women should directly benefit from the intervention as much as possible and their roles as economic actor must be strengthen because:

• They already have less access to resources and opportunities than men, and

• They play a key role as the gatekeeper of household food security, health and nutrition.

2) It is crucial to avoid increasing the already heavy work burden of women. That means pay particular attention to do no harm


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1. Individuals who are suffering from under nutrition or micronutrient deficiencies (especially iron) will encounter greater difficulties to do physical labour because they are weaker than individuals in good health.”

2. Evaluate time and labour resources required from the project beneficiaries 3) Provide support to women for the means to empower themselves The intervention should advocate for women’s access to livestock, education, childcare, financial services, extension services, technology, markets and employment.

• Promoting market-oriented production of women’s crops (e.g. horticultural or indigenous crops) for the purpose of empowering women through enhanced income generation

• Priority should also be given to technologies that …reduce manual labour and save energy

4) Protect Nutritional Status of Women Women are more vulnerable to malnutrition than men

o For biological reasons o For socio-cultural reasons

• Dealing with malnutrition empowers women: o Well nourished girls are more likely to stay in school o Well nourished girls are more likely to have more control over assets o Well nourished girls are more likely to have more control over choices

5) Creating an enabling environment for childcare: Think about childcare during training for women, breastfeeding spaces 6) Include women’s agricultural activities in extension programmes.

• This is an important consideration for extension services in particular

• FAO estimates that women receive only about one-twentieth (5 percent) of the extension services received by men

7) It is necessary to educate and empower men and boys to become more supportive of women as they often are the decision makers in the communities and within the households.” Men are partners in the struggle towards greater gender equality.


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Why does gender matter?15 There is a direct link between good children’s nutrition and women’s generation of household income or access to household income. Research shows that improving women’s access to agriculture or livelihoods inputs and services has the potential to reduce undernutrition in children. One reason is that money controlled by women is more likely to be spent on nutrition and health care for the children and the family than if the same money is controlled by men. In many societies, women’s access to productive assets such as land, formal credit, capital, inputs and extension services is constrained even though women produce most of the subsistence crops, manage household seed stocks and contribute to the maintenance of plant biodiversity. Men have an equally important role to play in ensuring the good nutrition of their family. Fathers have an essential role to play to support the family to acquire nutritious foods, to support wives to generate additional income to spend on nutrition or health care, and to help with child care practices to ensure that women have enough time and physical rest (especially if they are pregnant or lactating). Below are the key issues being considered in agriculture and nutrition: 1. Equal access to land and other resources such as credit and other support services 2. Gender differences in roles and activities 3. Gender and agriculture extension services 4. Women’s empowerment and equal access to decision making Women’s ability to manage child care 1. Care for mothers and children is a significant underlying determinant of child

nutrition. A major component of care is infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF), including breastfeeding, complementary feeding and the many factors that influence these practices.

2. The division of labour, or the work, roles and responsibilities allocated to men and women in agriculture, is directly tied to social and cultural patterns which determine the tasks that women and men generally perform. In addition to their roles in agricultural production and income generation, women in developing countries often undertake most of the work related to child care, food preparation, health service uptake and other household responsibilities such as collecting fuel and water. Women may therefore face multiple trade-offs in the allocation of their time that directly impinge on their own and their children’s health and nutritional status.

15 Adopted from SURE Training materials


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Agricultural labour and women’s own nutritional status 1. Agricultural activities tend to make up a major share of rural women’s energy

expenditure, often at high levels of effort and in addition to normal domestic duties. This level of effort may fluctuate during different seasons, particularly among rural women employed in agriculture. This may have a direct effect of maternal nutrition status, and therefore also on a the child nutrition.

2. Efforts to boost agricultural productivity must therefore consider the impacts on time use and physical demands – especially of female agricultural workers. Therefore, it is important that women have access to infrastructure and technology, where available, to lessen these burdens.

3. Avoiding harm. For example, by avoiding giving an increased agricultural workload to women as this could harm both their own nutritional status and their children’s, if time spent caring for children was reduced. Including men and boys could be helpful to avoid harm so that they are able to understand and support women in projects targeting women.

Strengthening women’s access to, and control of resources Land, Soil, and Water 1. Improve women’s access to inputs and technologies -improve soil fertility 2. Design water supplies explicitly for mixed domestic and productive uses 3. Consult communities to define local water rights New varieties and technologies 1. Take into account both women’s and men’s preferences when developing

and introducing new varieties 2. Disseminate high-value crops to women that do not require large initial

investments or asset ownership 3. Assess how the introduction of new technologies targeted to women will

affect gender norms 4. Find ways to protect women’s gains from new technologies 5. Recognize that women of different ages and status may have different

agricultural roles that can influence the adoption process Credit and financial services 1. Encourage women to enter high-value or high-return sectors for higher returns

to credit 2. Use group liability as a collateral substitute, with the option of graduation to

individual liability 3. Target credit, or design loan packages, based on women’s different needs

throughout their life cycle 4. Protect women’s rights to their own savings and financial assets Social Capital 1. Secure women’s participation by emphasising benefits that matter to women


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2. Promote institutional mechanisms that foster women’s active participation in groups

3. Integrating gender into agriculture and nutrition16 The following are some tips in identifying ways to integrate gender concerns in agriculture and nutrition interventions: Understand the roles of men and women, boys and girls in the household reproductive and productive systems (division of labor, workload and time allocation, resource control, etc.) and anticipate how the project might affect them. Involve and empower both men and women equally in addressing nutrition problems in the community. Focusing on women only as victims, may instigate negative outcomes, such as inciting jealousy among men; turning away men from nutrition issues and actions resulting in the stigmatization of nutrition activities as “women’s business.” Acknowledge and enhance the key roles of women in the production, storage and preparation of food by providing training and nutrition education to empower their ability to offer healthy diets for their families through homestead gardens or animal husbandry. Acknowledge and promote the role of men in improving nutrition for their families. Engage men as partners, as caregivers and as agents of positive change. Use farmer training centres to practically demonstrate gender and nutrition-sensitive interventions as complementary to other health-based nutrition interventions. Consult and include men and women in community meetings, demonstrations at field level and monitoring & evaluation of nutrition interventions. Educate men and women on good fatherhood and motherhood practices, breastfeeding, complementary feeding and other nutrition matters. Incorporate gender awareness as part of the community awareness sessions and campaigns on health and nutrition matters. Conduct routine assessment and client exit interviews at facilities to assess the friendliness of services to mothers and children.

16 Source: UNICEF, 2013


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Adult learning, effective negotiation and facilitation skills


• Understand principles of adult learning theory

• Be able to apply effective training and facilitation skills

• Use effective techniques to teach and provide ongoing technical backstopping for other Trainers of Trainers


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Adult learning

Theories & principles

I Hear and I Forget, I See and I Remember, I Do and I Understand

Confucius

WHAT IS LEARNING? • Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the

transformation of experience. • Learning is the activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill or different

attitude by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something Andragogy Vs. Pedagogy

Andragogy17 Definition: A learner-centred educational approach.

• The participant's needs and wants are central to the process of teaching.

• Learning is self-directed: participants are responsible for and involved in structuring their learning.

• A humanist philosophy underlies this teaching style, it considers personal development as the key focus of education.

Pedagogy Definition: An educational approach characterized by teacher-centered instruction.

Teacher is viewed as an authority figure who imparts knowledge and skills to the students.

Students are not generally involved in decisions or actions regarding learning. What differs adult learning from child learning?

Adults have much experience, children have little

Adult learning is voluntary and intentional. Child learning is compulsory, subject centered, their learning follows their development step and should be useful to them in their later.

17 Knowles, M. (1984). Andragogy in Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


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Knowles’ 5 Assumptions Of Adult Learners

In 1980, Knowles made 4 assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners (andragogy) that are different from the assumptions about child learners (pedagogy). In 1984, Knowles added the 5th assumption.

Knowles’ 4 Principles Of Andragogy : In 1984, Knowles suggested 4 principles that are applied to adult learning:

Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction.

Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for the learning activities.

Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance and impact to their job or personal life.

Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented. (Kearsley, 2010)

Adult Learning Principles There is abundant research that validates that learning takes place for adults when information builds on existing knowledge, and is relevant and useful to the learner. The main principles of adult learning include the following:

Self- responsibility – adults learn best when they take responsibility for their own learning.

Personal meaning – learning process should have personal meaning for them, it should relate to their own experience and what they know as well as being easily adapted to their own work place/site circumstances.

Learning styles – Individuals learn differently. Incorporate theory, visual, audio, and activities into the training design to make it easy to learn for all types of learners.

Adaptable design – learning is progressive. Start at the level where people are at and build on their emerging interests.

Below are strategies to help facilitators18enhance the effectiveness of capacity development programs: Adults are autonomous and self-directed Adults need to be free to direct themselves. Adults are responsible for their own learning process and know their own needs. Facilitators should focus on guiding participants to develop their own knowledge, rather than just providing them with information in a didactic manner.

18 The term “facilitators” and “trainers” will be used interchangeably throughout this document. Though the terms denote different skills (that will be elaborated upon in Chapter 4), it is useful for individuals to both train and facilitate during any capacity development event.

http://elearningindustry.com/tags/adult-learners


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Adults need to understand why they are learning something They must see a reason for learning a concept. Learning has to be applicable to their work or other responsibilities to be of value to them. Therefore, facilitators must identify objectives for participants before the training begins. Suggestions:

Indicate objectives at the start of each training event, and at the beginning of each day.

Show the "big picture" context of the training, and indicate clearly the rationale behind the activities

Make sure participants are clear about the sanctioning or sponsoring body of the training and any high level endorsements of the training, or the reform agendas of which it is a part.

After introducing the day's topics, ask participants for their input about the relevance or practical usage for the content in their daily work.

Help participants to create linkages between the content and their daily work, focus on making the learning relevant and practical.

Training should directly address adults’ needs and concerns Adults are goal-oriented. They usually know what goal they want to attain. They, therefore, appreciate a training program that is organized and has clearly defined elements. Suggestions:

Help identify/clarify the goals of the participants, and match them up with the training objectives.

Show participants how the training will help them attain their goals.

Be clear about the training objectives and discuss them openly with participants. If there is objection, deal with it.

Take some time at the start of the session to check with participants about their expectations or specific questions that they are hoping will be

addressed. Make note of these in a prominent place and make a point of trying to refer to them during the session as relevant points come up.

Adults benefit from activities, which allow them to relate new information and skills to their previous experiences Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education. They need to connect learning to this knowledge/experience base. Suggestions:

Draw out participants' experiences and knowledge through discussion and group activities.


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Show appreciation for participants' contributions, and make an effort to relate the content you present back to the experiences the participants have referred to.

Adults approach learning as direct problem-solving Adults are practical and they focus on the aspects of training most useful to them in their work. They may not be interested in knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Suggestions:

Keep learning activities open-ended. This will allow participants scope to adjust the activity to make it more relevant to their work. Participants may

be bitter if they are forced to work on a prescribed activity, but if they can tweak it to their own working context, they will be motivated.

Keep a practical orientation. Sometimes it's necessary to introduce theory, but remember that participants are most motivated to learn things which have direct application to their working context.

Tell participants explicitly how the training will be useful to them. Make direct and explicit linkages between the training content and

participants' daily work. Provide opportunities for reflection about the application of new concepts in

the workplace/site after each learning unit. Adults need to learn in a comfortable and respectful environment Adults participants come to training with a wealth of knowledge and experiences which must be honored by facilitators. Participants should be treated as equals, and allowed to voice their opinions freely. The mutual respect between facilitators and participants is a prerequisite for good communication and a comfortable, nonjudgmental climate for learning to take place. Suggestions:

Be polite and courteous with participants. Take the time to get to know participants and get a sense of what they

themselves have to contribute. Invite input and questions from participants, and show your appreciation

when they do contribute. Allow participants to respond to one another as well: when an opinion is voiced, ask others if anyone would like to respond to it.

Encourage self-assessment. If possible, rather than assessing participants yourself, have them assess themselves. You can provide them with assessment criteria, and give them a chance to modify those criteria. (adapted from the LIVES Capacity Toolkit).


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Experience-based Active Recognizing them as experts Independent Real-life centred

Task-centred Problem-centred Solution-driven Skill-seeking Self-directing Internally and externally motivated


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How To Motivate Adult Learners19

Adults, unlike children, teenagers and students, in most cases, have a lot of things on their minds and your eLearning course is probably the last one of them. In addition, your adult learners don't see the rewards of their efforts as soon as they would expect, and giving them candy doesn't work as it works with children. Also, academic habits, they once possessed are also long forgotten. Least but not last, a lot of the learners are often forced to take on your eLearning course to enhance their skills, keep their job, get a job, or continue further with their career plans. All this makes it difficult to motivate learners and make them active participants.

17 Tips To Motivate Adult Learners

1. Create useful and relevant learning experiences based on the age group and interests of your learners Emphasize on the practical knowledge. It is important to design a course that provides immediate relevancy. Learning materials that can be put into practice. Adult learners appreciate more practical knowledge, rather than extraneous facts and theories.

2. Facilitate exploration Even though children are famous for their exploratory nature and curiosity, adult learners, too, sometimes like to take the opportunity to construct knowledge in a way that is meaningful to them. For this reason, you should have all sorts of materials, references, infographics, short videos, lectures, podcasts and free resources available. In such a perfect learning environment learners are more likely to get inspired or find something that makes them want to learn more.

3. Build community and integrate social media Keep in mind that social media websites are a powerful tool for collaboration, commenting and sharing. You can facilitate group discussions and communities. People will quickly start exchanging knowledge, and will also have fun, social media is fun!

4. A voice behind the video is not enough Add a personal touch. Your course needs to have a face. Make yourself available to people, invite subject-matter experts, authors, professors and other specialists in live online discussions and question and answer sessions.

5. Challenge through games Come up with different problem solving exercises and case studies. Make your learners look for and find solutions.

6. Use humor Humor would work great even with the most demotivated learners on your course. When your students know you are funny, they will listen to your material carefully, cause they wouldn't want to miss on your witty sense of humor. You can never lose with that.

19 https://elearningindustry.com/17-tips-to-motivate-adult-learners


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7. Chunk information Chunking is essential, as it helps people remember and assimilate information. Small bits are easier to process.

8. Add suspense Don't give out everything your course is about in the beginning. Yes, you need an overview, but keep some interesting points until the time is right. No one likes to read a book if they know what's about to happen.

9. Accommodate individual interests and career goals Empower learners to work on these goals and individualize the training to suit their needs.

10. Stimulate your learners Encourage them to think by either providing them with brain teasers, or by asking thought-provoking questions.

11. Let learning occur through mistakes According to a German proverb "you will become clever through your mistakes". Have you heard the famous expression: "Practice makes perfect"? Of course you have! Henry Roediger who started a learning experiment divided his students in two groups. Group A studied natural sciences paper for 4 sessions, while group B studied the same paper for one session and was tested on it three times. According to the experimenter, one week later, students from group B performed 50% better than Group A, even though they studied the paper less. The results clearly support the argument that "practice makes perfect".

12. Make it visually-compelling Did you know that 83% of learning occurs visually?

13. Get Emotional If you don't sound inspiring, if your materials are not exciting, how will you motivate your learners? Get them emotionally involved too – come up with controversial statements, tap on memories, add real-life stories.

14. Get examples of their workplace Your learners may not always remember to associate what is learned with its application at the workplace. Sometimes they might need reminders and a clue to help them make that connection.

15. Be respectful to them

16. Ask for feedback It is motivating to know that your opinion contributes to the course.

17. Present the benefits of undertaking the course I don't know why I didn't start with this one. Sometimes outlining the benefits is all it takes.


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Adult Learning and Participatory Training

Learning styles Through training, we want our trainees to learn a new skill (in this case, to be able to use, manage and evaluate electronic health information resources). However, people learn in different ways:

When delivering training, it is therefore important to have a variety of activities that suit the different learning styles. This will give everyone the opportunity to learn the new skills. Here are some examples of activities/methods and the type of learners that find them the most useful:

Activity/method Learner style

Lecture Audio/auditory

Whole class, small group or pair discussions Audio/auditory

Presentation with slides Visual

Online demonstration Visual

Hands-on computer work Kinaesthetic/tactile

Ordering activity (e.g. individuals/ pairs/groups have to put the steps of a process in the correct order)

Kinaesthetic/tactile

Some people learn by hearing or listening. They are called audio or auditory learners.

Some people learn by seeing, watching or reading. They are called visual learners.

Some people learn by doing. They are called kinaesthetic or tactile learners.


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Participatory training As the name suggests, participatory training involves people actively participating in the training event. In participatory training, participants are discussing and questioning ideas. A facilitator will ask questions to drive the discussion forward. Everyone has experiences to share and there may be several answers to each issue raised. When delivering training about using and managing electronic resources, it is still possible to make the training participatory. Instead of the facilitator telling the participants how to search, use and manage the resources, they can use activities which lead participants through the process. In this way, participants are more in control of their own learning — an important part of adult learning.

More information Learning styles: http://www.trentu.ca/academic/geography/swurtele/slr/learningstyles.html http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/id/learningStyles.asp (this focuses on ‘Learning Styles and the Online Environment’) Adult learning principles: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/theories.html#adult http://www.gp-training.net/training/gptrainer/intending_trainers_course/adlearn2.htm Participatory training: http://www.fao.org/forestry/foris/pdf/gender/tr-e01/tr-e01.4.pdf http://www.unesco.org/education/aladin/paldin/pdf/course01/unit_12.pdf

A traditional model of training/teaching

Participatory training

http://www.trentu.ca/academic/geography/swurtele/slr/learningstyles.html

http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/id/learningStyles.asp

http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/2_learntch/theories.html#adult

http://www.gp-training.net/training/gptrainer/intending_trainers_course/adlearn2.htm

http://www.gp-training.net/training/gptrainer/intending_trainers_course/adlearn2.htm

http://www.fao.org/forestry/foris/pdf/gender/tr-e01/tr-e01.4.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/education/aladin/paldin/pdf/course01/unit_12.pdf


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NSA Monitoring and Evaluation By the end of this session participants will:

• Understand the best types of measures for monitoring and evaluating NSA activities, including recommended global indicators

• Be able to develop and provide technical guidance on M&E planning for NSA within broader agriculture programmes such as AGP2


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NSA M&E Considerations for Agriculture Sector Projects20

• The monitoring and evaluation of agriculture projects seeking to address NSA considerations in addition to their primary production objectives is important because:

o There is very little empirical data documenting successes and failures o The possibility of adverse effects is real – and such effects need to be

identified and addressed rapidly.

• However, to date, NSA M&E has not yet captured the attention of many agriculture project managers

• M&E is often perceived as externally imposed obligation with findings seldom integrated into management and action systems

• Agriculture managers often face unmanageable data collection and reporting demands, and what agriculture M&E is carried out, gives primary attention to physical achievements (e.g., production yields) to the neglect of project outcomes (e.g., improved dietary diversity).

How can NSA M&E be designed to be less cumbersome for Agricultural Project Managers?

1. M&E plans need to enable M&E staff to focus on the quality of their efforts and the utilization of data to inform programming, and provide up to date information on their projects.

2. Ideally, they also need to know if HH’s have been reached or affected by a given project. How can this be measured?

3. In the case of most agriculture projects, positive effects on HH food consumption may more readily be accomplished than effects on malnutrition levels (e.g., stunting), so this (reporting on stunting) should not necessarily be the goal of agriculture M&E. Agriculturalists area also more likely to relate to these effects.

4. A standard model for measuring HH Food Insecurity is the dietary diversity score (e.g. the diversity of foods consumed by HH members the previous day). Dietary Diversity Scores can be measured using a qualitative 24-hour recall (FAO 2011) or a food group questionnaire (FANTA 2006).

Ideally, agriculture M&E systems should enable ag project managers and managers and NSA Case Team staff to jointly review projects and plans, and they then could be considered “successful” and worthy of replication if they are effective in meeting BOTH production and food security/nutrition objectives AND are found to be economically viable for producers and funders.

20 Monitoring and Evaluating the Food Security and Nutrition Effects of Agricultural Projects by J Levinson and A Herforth (2013) (http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/agn/pdf/Levinson_Herforth_Paper.pdf)


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Selected NSA Indicators – FAO Compendium of NSA Indicators 21

Type of Measure Indicators

Diet – Individual Level Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women of Reproductive Age (MDD-W)

Food access – HH Level Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FEIS)

On-farm availability, diversity, and safety of foods

• Production of target nutrient-rich foods • Diversity of crops and livestock produced • Months of Adequate HH Food Provisioning

Food environment in markets

Availability & prices of targeted nutrient-rich foods in local markets

Income Income, disagregated by gender, to reflect intra-household in local markets

Women’s Empowerment • Women’s access and control over resources • Women’s participation in economic activities • Women’s access to and control over benefits

Natural resource management practices

Access to improved drinking water source (example)

21 Reference: FAO Compendium of Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Indicators (2016)


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Accountability Matrix By the end of this session participants will:

• Have clear responsibilities and accountability for nutrition sensitive agriculture within the scope of their work responsibilities.

• Set goals and timelines for achieving their nutrition sensitive agriculture plans

Making Accountability a Core Part of Your Work Culture22 Accountability in the workplace is something every manager wants to have. Accountability has a clear link to higher work performance, but experts indicate that it also results in improved competency and commitment to work, increased employee morale, and work satisfaction. It’s also known to improve creativity and innovation because the employee is more invested in the future of the organization.

However, according to one study, (Source: AMA Enterprise, 2013), leaders recognize a significant lack of accountability on the part of employees. In fact, 21 percent of respondents stated that unaccountable employees make up 30-50 percent of their workforce. Accountability in the workplace High performance teams and organizations empower employees to take ownership, they foster a accountability, and they have a high levels of trust between all levels of the organization. Furthermore, there’s a strong link between these three values and characteristics of high performance. Ownership is about taking initiative and doing the right thing for the department or business. It’s about taking responsibility for results and not assuming it’s not someone else’s responsibility. At minimum, taking ownership means that if you recognize something is material to achieving results, that you take the initiative to bring it to the attention of the right people. If ownership is about taking initiative, accountability is about follow through and getting done what you said you’d get done. It’s recognizing that other team members are dependent on the results of your work and not wanting to let them down. It’s about good, open, pro-active communication to keep team members informed on the status of your commitments because you respect that the results of your work has a direct impact on their ability to make their own commitments. Ultimately, when team members consistently demonstrate ownership and accountability, trust is formed.

22 Warren Tanner, 2016 (https://soapboxhq.com/create-culture-accountability-workplace/)


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Why accountability is essential Without accountability, execution suffers. This happens in two ways. The first is that when we don’t hold ourselves accountable to getting work done well and on time, there’s a tendency to become even more lenient and forgiving for slippages. A day becomes a week, a week a month. If it happens once, it’s that little bit more acceptable for it to happen again. The second is that when we don’t hold ourselves accountable, the impact is exponential. Your delay becomes your team’s delay. The work they had planned gets impacted and that work potentially has further downstream effects. The post, The Importance of Accountability on Teams, explains the lesson of punctuality: when 10 people are waiting for you, if you are 2 minutes late – it’s not just 2 minutes lost – the team has lost 22 minutes

Similarly, lack of accountability can snowball in a team, department and organization. Tolerating missed deadlines, lack of punctuality and un-finished work has the tendency to make this behaviour “no big deal”. People learn that the real deadline is a week from the published one; that consistently being 10 min late for a meeting is the norm; that sub-par work is acceptable in the interest of “getting it done” (which should not be confused with pushing yourself to ship and not over-work a project). The cumulative impact across an organization can be substantial. Try to make accountability a part of your team’s normal way of operating. Talk about it, share ideas, come to a common consensus about what accountability means in the workplace, and then use that as a foundation everyone works from as they make accountability an organizational goal. Most importantly, make sure that accountability is more than a stated characteristic of how your team operates. Accountability needs to have consequences which are both positive and negative and those consequences need to be consistently applied. Research consistently contends that business leaders lose the most kudos when poor performance isn’t dealt with and poor performers are able to continue without repercussion. Goals are at the heart of accountability

https://soapboxhq.com/blog/importance-of-accountability-in-teams

https://soapboxhq.com/blog/importance-of-accountability-in-teams

http://www.evancarmichael.com/library/craig-lewis/A-Small-Hole-Can-Sink-A-Big-Ship--The-Poor-Performer-and-Other-Like-Obstacles.html

http://www.evancarmichael.com/library/craig-lewis/A-Small-Hole-Can-Sink-A-Big-Ship--The-Poor-Performer-and-Other-Like-Obstacles.html


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An important step here is to break things down into meaningful goals and measurable metrics for everyone in the organization. Without proper goals, it’s also going to be nearly impossible to effectively enforce accountability. Goals provide clear expectations for everyone on what’s expected. The less room for ambiguity the better – so goals need to be specific and measurable. In a team environment, this is especially important because of the dependency on each others’ work and the exponential impact of not meeting expectations. Another important outcome of having goals is defining what is NOT going to be a priority. One of the biggest reasons we fail to live up to our commitments is because we put too much on our plate and become de-focused on key priorities. So goals need to be realistic. We can’t create accountability if what we’re asking people to be accountable for isn’t realistic or achievable. Show the numbers There are 3 ways that showing key metrics creates workplace accountability.

• First, showing the number declares ownership. Every goal should be measurable and sharing this is a great way to demonstrate commitment to the result and communicate a clear expectation to other team members.

• Second, showing the numbers creates some healthy workplace competition. Achieving goals and receiving recognition is a positive consequence of accountability. Missing a goal that’s openly shared with the team has the effect of making us double down the next period to do better.

• Third, showing goals helps keep people focused on priorities. It’s easy to get distracted by new projects, but showing goals helps you hold yourself accountable and helps others hold you accountable as well.

Make accountability everyone’s responsibility Ownership is about taking responsibility and taking initiative whether or not the responsibility is clearly yours. There’s a tendency in group settings for diffusion of responsibility whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when others are present. In the context of accountability, this may mean you don’t see yourself as responsible for holding others accountable for timeliness, quality and strong communication. Perhaps it isn’t your responsibility – there’s someone more senior in the meeting or team, but this is where taking ownership becomes important. Resist the temptation to ignore when someone on your team needs to be held accountable. Owning this aspect of your culture is key so that others can adopt the same attitude.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_responsibility

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_responsibility


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In terms of having the dialogue, there are likely going to be uncomfortable moments. These two posts from HBR have good tips on how to handle difficult conversations and conflict strategies for nice people. Build trust through support and encouragement Trust is an important factor that contributes to accountability. In low-trust environments, people are quick to focus on the blame, not the solution. In high trust environments, people focus on the solution, not the blame. A key reason people avoid accountability is as a self-defence mechanism, because they’re worried about what might happen if things go wrong. A person with low self-confidence — and perhaps bad past experiences — will fear accountability due to fear of messing things up and the imagined consequences, while a person naturally more confident knows they can get up and try again if things go wrong. So give praise where praise is due, to build up confidence in your staff, so people aren’t afraid to take things on. One thing you can do to help individuals that resist accountability is to help them understand the difference between accountability and making a judgement about how well they’re doing their job. Failure to meet an objective is OK if the individual let the team know with as much notice as possible, why it happened, how they intend to correct it and to ask for help if it’s needed. Approaching failure in this way is demonstrating accountability. There’s an opportunity to learn from it and seek coaching or support to ensure future success. In this case, the individual is doing their job well. It’s OK to fail from time to time. You just need to be upfront and proactive in your communication of it. Creating accountable employees delivers numerous business benefits: better execution, lower employee turnover and more creativity and innovation. Overall, shifting to constructive accountability may require a culture change within your team or organization, but leaders, managers and employees will find the results well worth the effort.

http://hbr.org/web/management-tip/tips-on-having-difficult-conversations

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/12/conflict-strategies-for-nice-people/?utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet&utm_campaign=Socialflow

NSA Accountability Matrix (template)

Activities Responsible Dept/Directorate or Core Process Unit

Responsible Person

Responsible Person to Authorize

Comments / Remarks


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NSA Action Plan (template)

Key Activities to be Accomplished

Expected Result

Timeframe to complete activity

Responsible Person

Comments

1.

2

3

4.

5.

6.

7.

ANNEX 1: NSA ON-LINE RESOURCES Reference Weblink

Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture: Nutrient-Rich Value Chains Technical Guidance Brief

https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/nutrition/nutrition-sensitive-agriculture-nutrient-rich-value-chains

FAO Compendium of Indicators for Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6275e.pdf

Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Programming: A Nutrition Sensitive Approach for Market-Based Agriculture Projects

https://www.mercycorps.org/research-resources/nutrition-sensitive-agriculture-programming-nutrition-sensitive-approach-market

Using Extension Agents to Promote Nutrition: A Process review of three Feed the Future activities in Ethiopia

https://www.spring-nutrition.org/publications/reports/ethiopia-process-review-feed-the-future

Designing Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Investments: Checklist and guidance for programme formulation

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5107e.pdf

Synthesis on Guiding Principles on Agriculture Programming for Nutrition


Increasing the Nutrition Sensitivity of Value Chains: A Review of Two Feed the Future Projects in Guatemala

https://www.spring-nutrition.org/publications/briefs/increasing-nutrition-sensitivity-value-chains-review-two-feed-future-projects

Agriculture and Nutrition Resource Review, SPRING https://www.spring-nutrition.org/technical-areas/ag-nut/resource-review/all

Nutrition Sensitivity: How agriculture can improve child nutrition http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0164002

Monitoring and Evaluating the Food Security and Nutrition Effects of Agriculture Projects

http://www.unscn.org/files/Annual_Sessions/UNSCN_Meetings_2013/Levinson_Ag2Nut_M_E_MoM.pdf


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ANNEX 2: SHORT NSA ON-LINE COURSES FAO Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Short-Course: http://www.fao.org/elearning/#/elc/en/course/NFS This is a free course on nutrition sensitive agriculture that was developed by the FAO. It provides practical scenarios and examples to guide the student walk through different pathways that nutrition can be addressed through agriculture. The course can be completed within approximately one week, and is feasible for agriculture sector staff with or without an advanced university degree. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Short-Course http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/freeonlinecourses/agriculture/index.html This is a well-designed course that provides a comprehensive overview of the linkages between agriculture, health and nutrition. There are 10 sessions, requiring approximately one week each depending on the speed by which the student works through the readings and materials. A certificate from the LSHTM can be obtained upon completion of at least three sessions of the course for UK 30 pounds. This is a good course for agriculture professionals who have a Master’s or Bachelor’s degree and are looking to upgrade their capacity with regards to nutrition. USAID’s Online Training on Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture https://agrilinks.org/training/nutrition-sensitive-agriculture This is a 3-hour course designed to support individuals who are involved in implementing USAID’s Feed the Future programme as well as for other individuals interested in the topic. It introduces the fundamentals of nutrition-sensitive agriculture and provides guidance for practitioners to use when designing programs that promote access to nutrient-rich foods. This is a good basic course that provides a good overview of the key topics to be covered.

http://www.fao.org/elearning/#/elc/en/course/NFS

http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/freeonlinecourses/agriculture/index.html

https://agrilinks.org/training/nutrition-sensitive-agriculture

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